Global Policy Forum

By Nneoma Ukeje-Eloagu

UN Secretary-General, Dr. Koffi Annan, on a two-day working visit to Nigeria, yesterday said in Abuja that it would take several more years before membership of the UN Security Council could be expanded.

The Security Council has five permanent members and 10 rotational members. Annan said at the end of a two-day visit to Nigeria that about four years ago, there were discussions about an expanded Security Council with possibly 24 members, but the issue could not be resolved.

Citing Africa as an example where three countries, Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa were vying for the continent's slot for a permanent council seat, Annan said there were similar problems among other regions as to who gets the slot. "If Africa were to be given one permanent seat, which among the three countries gets it?" he queried. Similar problems, he said, came up in other regions.

"It is a rather complicated and contentious issue." Annan said, however, that the issue was still in the agenda of the General Assembly, adding "I suspect it will take several more years before the UN can find a solution."

Answering a question on World Trade Organisation, (WTO), the Secretary-General said the problem was not whether African countries should be members of the world body or not.

"Membership of WTO is essential, but the problem is how effective can we Africans and other developing countries organise ourselves to put our point of view across to ensure that the markets are really opened to goods coming from the south," he said.

Answering another question, Annan expressed the hope that Nigeria would have a democratic change of government and that the people would respect the country's constitution.

He noted that Nigeria was in that part of the world where changes had not always been smooth, but said that people all over the world were demanding peaceful change of government and peaceful elections.

The Secretary-General announced that ECOWAS member-states had suggested that the UN Security Council should lift the sanction it imposed on Liberia for its support of the rebel revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone and said that the Council would consult and take a decision soon.

The UN scribe also urged Nigerians to keep faith with the plethora of international treaties, plans and organisations now working to try to offer the poorest continent a brighter future.

Annan's visit to Nigeria, the third since he became UN Secretary-General, was a stop-over, on his way back from Durban, South Africa, where he witnessed the inauguration of the African Union, a 53-nation trading and political bloc that replaces the Organisation of African Unity.

"It was a moment of celebration and of hope, but it will require lots of hard, hard work. We will have to have stamina and iron political will," the secretary general told reporters.

Annan said that the AU had discussed the NEPAD, a continent-wide blueprint for economic and political reform, and developing trading links with the rich world.

"If we build on that we will be building a very strong foundation for a healthy Africa," he said.

The NEPAD plan was endorsed last month by the leaders of the G8 club of the world's most developed nations, who in turn unveiled an action plan that would see them step up aid and investment in Africa. But many in Africa were disappointed that NEPAD's promises failed to elicit significant new pledges of development aid.

Annan accepted that Africa did not get everything it was looking for at the G8 summit in Canada, but insisted that a good start had been made and argued that the continent had nothing to lose from sticking to the plan.

"Some of the things that we are seeking to do with NEPAD, building strong governments, strong institutions and the rule of law are things that we have to do anyway, whether anyone promises us any money or not," he said.

Annan also defended the WTO, which many Africans have accused of forcing them to accept imports from the rich north while doing nothing to remove US and European tariffs and domestic subsidies that exclude African goods.

"Membership of the World Trade Organisation is essential," he said, arguing that Africans should organise more effectively ahead of the next round of WTO trade talks to seek fairer access to world markets.

Annan was speaking at the end of a two day visit to Nigeria during which he met President Olusegun Obasanjo, business leaders, UN officials and representatives of civil society groups.

He said he discussed issues of direct concern between Nigeria and the UN with President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, conflicts in the African continent and in West Africa.

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